DENR-XI diver, stakeholders conduct video documentation of underwater environment along IGACOS' Paradise Island to Costa Marina Stretch
With the aim to gather video footages of the underwater environment in Island Garden City of Samal (IGACOS) specifically from Paradise Island Park and Beach Resort (PIBR) to Costa Marina Beach Resort, divers from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-XI (DENR-XI) led by Regional Executive Director Bagani Fidel A. Evasco together with the Philippine Commission for Sports Scuba Diving Commissioner Fred Medina and representatives from Carabao Dive Center, Paradise Island Beach Resort and the Batacan, Montejo and Vicencio Law Firm conducted a diving activity and underwater video documentation of marine environment last October 12, 2022.
The diving team which was led by Marine Biologist Dr. John Michael Lacson of PIBR, covered approximately 690 meter-stretch of Pier 1 (jetty port of PIBR), Stations 1, 2 and 3 down to the southern area of Costa Marina Beach Resort.
This vital pursuit was also witnessed by representatives from Ecoteneo and the Local Government Units of IGACOS.
๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎโ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ
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Pier 1 to Station 1 is an area situated in front of the PIBR. From 5 to 25 feet, hard coral families were observed in the area such as Branching Acropora, other massive corals such as the brain corals, helmet corals and the turbine coral. Also observed were giant clam species and large numbers of Damselfishes, Cardinalfish, Porcupinefish and Wrasse.
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Seagrass species were also observed from 5 feet to 30 feet such as the ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด, ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ช and ๐๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด.
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However, an increase of large soft corals like ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฑ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฑ and ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ. can already be observed between Station 1 to Station 2. These soft corals were seen attached to dead hard corals and other dead hard corals with algae.
According to the Coral Reef Alliance (n.d.), soft corals are soft and bendable and often resemble plants. They do not have stony skeletons and are non-reef-building corals.
Declining water quality is one of the main reasons of coral reef degradation and shifts in benthic community composition to higher soft coral abundances have been reported for many degraded reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific (Baum G, et.al 2016)
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On the other hand, hard coral colonies such as massive helmet corals (๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ.), eye corals (๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ), branching cabbage corals (๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ) and the blue coral (๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข) were also observed scattered thinly in the area. Large mounds of dead corals were also recorded within the 15-20 feet depth of Station 1 and 2 and the sediment in this area is sandy-coral rubble substrate.
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Soft corals dominated the area between Station 2 and Station 3, having dead hard corals as their foundation. Rubble substrate, which is made up of pieces of dead corals, is also substantially wide.
Also, seagrass species like ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ข, ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด and ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ช were observed in the shallow depth of the area. At 10 feet below, there is a table coral (๐๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ.) observed and brown algae of the Sargassum family.
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In Station 3, which is in front of Costa Marina Beach Resort, seagrass species such as ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ข, ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด and ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ช were observed within the shallow depth. But going south of the said beach resort, the area was observed to be dominated with soft corals lying on top of dead corals in a substantially-wide rubble area.
๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ ๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ด๐ต
As the diving team descended to 50 feet at Points 88 (7ยฐ 5' 59.138" N 125ยฐ 39' 45.726" E) and 89 (7ยฐ 5' 58.533" N 125ยฐ 39' 48.946" E), a flat terrain of rubble substrate was observed. Even with a strong underwater current, the team was able to document thin patches of hard corals and soft corals with presence of rubble substrate and algae within the 30-35 feet.
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Basing on the Annexes of the Department of Public Works and Highwaysโ Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility for Samal Island-Davao City Connector (SIDC) Project, points 88 and 89 are the points where the proposed column for the bridge will be constructed.
The team scanned the northeast side of point 88 at the depth of 15-20 feet and they observed patches of live corals, soft corals, coral rubble substrate, sand, silt and algae in the area. They have also observed big dead corals that were covered with algae and fishes mostly โpataโ.
Approaching the depth between 10-15 feet, the team already observed patches of seagrasses and soft corals community, presence of fish pot, live hard corals and big dead corals with algae, rubbles substrate mixing with sand and algae.
At the surface of Point 89, the team observed that the bottom, around 5-8 feet, is a mixture of rubbles and algae. Also observable in the area are the seagrass community, live corals, soft corals, fishes and dead corals covered with algae.
At the depth of 3 feet at Point 89, there is a presence of seagrass community, patches of live hard corals, patches of soft corals and mix of sand and rubble substrate.
๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ผ๐ฏ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
Judging from the underwater topography, dense soft corals, strong underwater current and high nutrient load due to the presence of drifting mucus-like particles allegedly algae colonies, it appears that the stretch from Station 1 up to Costa Marina is exposed usually to strong underwater currents.
Divers from the DENR-XI has also experienced the same strong current on the said area on January 27 and October 8, 2021.
Pier 1, however, is sheltered from this underwater current due to the canal formation which was observed leaning away and is manifested by the growing Branching coral Acropora and thin encrusting ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ. These said coral species morphology has high tendency to break under strong underwater current energy.
Observed further from Station 1 to Costa Marina jetty were large mounds of dead massive forming Porites spp. It can be hypothesized that this underwater ecosystem is once filled with hard corals of species forming massive lifeforms such as but not limited to ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ., ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ. ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ., ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ๐ณ๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฑ among others.
These massive corals can withstand underwater current due to their massive and thick coral skeleton and dome-shape morphology. However, human interventions which caused impeding water flow and disrupting long shore sediment transport and long shore current coupled with extraction of coralline rocks used for the establishment of concrete structures and the effects of eutrophication, may somehow change the underwater community structure from hard coral formed reefs to the existing soft corals ecosystem.
Soft corals due to their morphology can also withstand strong underwater current. They also derive food from catching plankton drifting in the water column rather than depending to sunlight for photosynthesis. Plankton on the other hand derived their food from the rich organic particles or algae in the water column. Algae derived their nourishment from nutrient rich waters.
Also, the presence of invertebrates such as the filter feeding Crinoid featherstar, and detritus feeders sea urchins and chocolate chip seastars proved that the area has high organic load, nonetheless, the presence alone of soft corals is also an indicator.
Strong underwater current can be attributed to the topography of the channel which is influenced by the flow of the water during high and low tides or from the upwelling and downwelling transport in and out of Davao gulf.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐:
Baum G, Januar I, Ferse SC, Wild C, Kunzmann A. Abundance and physiology of dominant soft corals linked to water quality in Jakarta Bay, Indonesia. PeerJ. 2016 Nov 29;4:e2625. doi: 10.7717/peerj.2625. PMID: 27904802; PMCID: PMC5127238.
Cao, C., Cai, F., Qi, H., Zheng, Y., Lu, H. Characteristics of Underwater Topography, Geomorphology and Sediment Source in Quinzhou Bay Water 2021, 13, 1392. https://doi.org/10.3390/w1310192.
Department of Public Works and Highways Infrastructure Preparation and Innovation Facility โ Output 1 โ Roads and Bridges Samal Island โ Davao City Connector (SIDC) Project โ Annexes 5 October 2020
Llacuna, MEJ., Walag, AMP.,Villaluz, EA., Diversity and dispersion patterns of echinoderms in Babanlagan, Talisayan, Misamis Oriental. Environmental and Experimental Biology (2016) 14:213-217.http://doi.org/10.22364/eeb.14.28
M V B Rodriguez et al 2020. Octocorals outcompete scleratinian corals in a degraded reef. IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 420 012027
Mohanty, P.K.; Patra, S.K.; Bramha, S.; Seth, B.; Pradhan, U.; Behera, B.; MISHRA, P., and Panda, U.S.,2012. Impact of groins on beach morphology: a case study near Gopalpur Port, east coast of India. Journal of Coastal Research, 28(1), 132-142. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208
Veron, JEN. Corals of the World. 2000. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB 3, Townsville MC, Qld 4810, Australia
Coral Reef Alliance. Coral Reef 101: Soft Corals. Soft Corals - Coral Reef Alliance
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